1. Technical Field
This invention relates to weather warning systems and, more particularly, to a weather radio apparatus and method for providing notification of weather-related events according to geographical and weather warning parameters that are defined by a user.
2. Background Art
Interest in weather-related events has dramatically increased during recent years with the advent of high-quality satellite and radar imaging systems, and their increased ability to accurately forecast future weather events. Currently, weather messages are continuously broadcast through a special weather radio signal on the VHF band, ranging between 162.400 and 162.550 MHZ, which is outside the normal AM and FM broadcast bands. This special radio signal is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Special weather radios must be used in order to receive these types of weather broadcasts. Weather messages are repeated every 4 to 6 minutes and are routinely updated every one to six hours, or more often when rapidly changing weather conditions are present. The weather broadcasts may also include severe weather warnings that pose a threat to life and safety. When emergency situations occur, a special signal is broadcast from a regional office. Weather radios detect this signal and typically respond by sounding an alarm indicating that a weather alert has been issued. The user can then turn on the radio and listen to the voice broadcast of the warning. In one advanced alerting system known as "Specific Area Message Encoding" (SAME) made available by NOAA, digital coding is used to activate special receivers that have been programmed to broadcast emergency conditions in a particular geographic area, typically a county. In specially equipped radios and cable television receivers that can read the digital encoded signal, a short text message that identifies location and type of emergency can be displayed.
One weather radio that takes advantage of the SAME alerting system is known as the "RadioShack 7-Channel Weatheradio with NWR-SAME Severe-Weather Alert." This radio receives and processes the digital coding provided by NOAA for preselected counties by inputting county codes through a keypad. This radio may be set to sound an alarm when the National Weather Bureau issues a weather warning, watch, or statement for the selected county codes. The radio may also be set so it does not sound an alarm. A visual indication of the type of weather alert being broadcast is also provided. Although this radio is programmed to sound audibly distinct tones for weather warnings and statements, persons may be awakened many times from sleep during the night for special weather statements that are not life threatening. There is thus a tendency to turn off the alarm during normal sleeping hours and risk the danger of missing more severe weather conditions, such as tornado watches and warnings, especially if an alert has already woken the user due to less severe conditions.
Another type of weather warning system is provided by Data Transmission Network Corporation (DTN) of Omaha, Nebr. In this system, emergency weather information is sent directly to an alpha-numeric pager. Information such as weather watches, warnings and storm movement, local weather updates twice daily for an eight-county area, severe weather watches and warnings, dense fog advisories, winter storm watches and warnings, highway watches and warnings, freezing precipitation advisories, and avalanche bulletins are available in alpha-numeric format. In addition, an audible alarm may also be provided on the pager to signal certain weather events.
Although these systems provide severe weather warnings and local weather updates at recurring intervals, they respond to all issued weather alerts, including alerts that are not life threatening. The effect is not only disrupting, but may also reduce the effectiveness of the system because alerts can become too commonplace and therefore may go unheeded.